LITERATURE

Brodrick's Autograph Letter Signed to Mathers: 1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. 'Dear Sir - It may interest you to read the enclosed, written by Ex-President Reitz whose "renderings" of "Maid of Athens" & "Tam O'Shanter" are so well known. Somebody once said that "the only thing that doesn't lose by 'translation' is a Bishop" and as a rule this is correct, but I think in this instance I have gained'. In a postscript he asks for the return of the 'M.S.', underlined twice.

2pp., 8vo. Neatly written out on two leaves of laid paper with watermark of Caxton Superfine Vellum. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The poem consists of twenty-eight lines arranged in seven four-line stanzas, the first reading: 'On lake and fell the loud rains beat, | And August closes rough and rude.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. The poem, of 60 irregular lines, is placed (with a facsimile of Verhaeren's signature at the foot) within a thick floral border, reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement. It begins: 'Ce n'est qu'un bout de sol dans l'infini du monde. | Le Nord | Y déchaîne le vent qui mord. | Ce n'est qu'un peu de terre avec sa mer au bord | Et le déroulement de sa dune inféconde.' Scarce: no copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale, on COPAC or in the Imperial War Museum.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. The letter reads: 'Dear Prof. Candy, | I think you would wish to see enclosed which please return after perusal. | If you hear of anything kindly let me know. It is the most pressing difficulty we have and we see no present way of surmounting it. | With renewed thanks, | always sincerely yours, | Mackenzie Bell'.

2pp., folio. On two leaves of yellow paper, with 'PATENT' lion and unicorn watermark. Text enclosed within faint blue vertical lines. Good, on lightly aged and worn paper. No record found of the publication of this item, the first page of which is headed 'Opening: -', with the last section ending two thirds down the page, suggesting that it is complete. A rhymed poem of 36 lines: the first section consisting of 10 lines, the second of 16 lines, and the third of 10 lines.

Note: 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly-aged, laid down on paper with traces of glue to one margin. In response to a request for an autograph it reads: 'Novr 10/69 | 21 Beauvoir St | Portland Place | London. W. | Dear Sir | I send this in accordance with your request to Mr Lacy.' | I am | Dear Sir | Yours | R. H. Holden Esqre'. Engraving: On 14 x 10.5 cm paper, laid down within border on 21 x 14 cm paper. Good: Photogravure 11 x 8 cm image cut from a magazine. Showing a bearded Horne in old age, with velvet writing cap.

4pp., 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Father'. He begins by thanking him for his letter: 'I can picture the long-nailed Neb. sitting down to answer your request for an autograph. Strange, that you should have been hearing of Vaughan Williams just at that time!' He reports that he has been 'doing many poems for The British Weekly. The Editor saw something of mine & asked me to send whatever I liked. And his nonconformist readers do not seem to jib.

2pp., on both sides of the lower half of a 4to leaf. The recto is numbered by Reade '2', indicating that the two pages constitute the second leaf of a letter. The text reads: '[...] therefore you will consent to do me a bare act of justice viz not to let that gentleman be my public critic in "the World." Of course I should be still more pleased if you would do me the honor to see the play yourself and pronounce upon it. However half a loaf is better than no bread.

In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Galsworthy writes: 'Dear Evans | Here is the MS. Price £300 [amended from 315] less half your Commission £30. = £285. nett. | Sincerely yours | John Galsworthy'. For such a short message, the manuscript shows signs of indecision: the latter part, from the word 'less', has clearly an addition, and the word 'half' has been inserted with a caret. While the manuscript referred to may well be the second collection of Forsyte Novels, 'A Modern Romance', published by Heinemann's in 1929, Galsworthy's price does seem rather cheap.

2pp., 4to. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. In envelope, with postmark and stamp, addressed to 'John Bacon Esqr.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In worn envelope, with stamp and postmark, addressed by Buchanan to 'J. T. Baron Esq | 18 Griffin Street | Witton | Blackburn | Lancashire'. Both letter and envelope have thick mourning borders, Buchanan's wife having died the previous November. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir, | The works you mention, with the exception of "Idyls of Invention," are just now out of print. The plays have never been pubd. | Thanking you for your kind expressions I am | Yrs truly | Robt Buchanan'.

12pp., in original buff wraps, with 'EIGHT POEMS' in red on front cover. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with rusty staples. A nice production, With the name 'Robert Lynd' added in manuscript, probably by Bax himself, in a space provided on the title for such personalisation. Uncommon: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh and Cambridge.

Item One: From Havengrove. On reverse of printed 12mo prospectus for the first issue of 'Poetry Folios' magazine (which appeared in 1942), edited by Comfort and Peter Wells. 1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged and creased paper. He thanks him for his letter. 'It is appreciation of this kind that makes one want to go on writing. [...] I wish I could meet you.' Item Two: From Havengrove, on letterhead of 'Poetry Folios'. Undated. 2pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-creased and aged paper.

1p., 8vo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of previous mounting along two edges. Headed, in a contemporary hand: 'Given to Mrs. Richards by Miss Calhoun Fanshawe'. 22 lines of verse, in couplets. Signed in the bottom right-hand corner, apparently at a later date than the rest of the text: 'William Sothbey | Sepr 26 - 1804'. The extract - possibly written out by Sotheby for an acquaintance - begins: 'Sweet Isle!

Each of the thirty poems ends with the typed name 'Louis How'. The collection is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with each poem printed on one side of a 4to leaf. There is no record of any of the thirty being published. Six of the poems have minor manuscript emendations, and several include minor corrections in type. A prolific poet, in 1915 How was grouped with Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound in an article by Zoe Akins in Reedy's Mirror (published in his native St. Louis).

1p., 12mo. On thick deckled-edge paper. He apologises for the delay in sending a copy of his 'Iron Pirate', due to a delay in receiving it from the publishers.

The engraving, which is not in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, is on a piece of 19 x 14 cm paper, with tissue guard. The image measures around 8 cm square, and shows Landor's head in profile, looking to the left, with 'A. D'Orsay' beneath to the left, and 'H. W. Smith' beneath to the right. In good condition, lightly-aged, with small stain to one edge of border. Attached to a piece of paper, along with the piece of Landor's autograph, which is on a 1 x 18.5 cm strip of grey paper cut from a letter, and is in fair condition, lightly-creased.

2pp., 4to. An excellent letter, stylish and charming, and a lucky survival. In poor condition, apparently as a result of fire damage: with wear and chipping repaired with archival tape.

ONE (memorandum): Headed: 'Memorandum of an Agreement between Messrs: Henry S. King & Co: of 65 Cornhill London of the one part and Mortimer Collins Esqre. of Knowl Hill, Twyford, Berks of the other part.' 19 March 1872. 1p., folio. In fair condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Pencil annotations. Five stamps at head (four embossed and one ink).

1p., 12mo. On aged and ruckled paper, with pinholes to one corner. He is 'in the thick of this "Week in the Country" business'. 'When I come to town I'll come & see you about your proposition of the series for the Grand Magazine, but I'm a rotten short story writer, you know.'

3 ALsS, on letterhead of The Athenaeum journal, 12 March 1919; 102 Edith Grove, Chelsea, 16 July [no year]; on letterhead of 5 Acacia Road, St John's Wood, 'Sunday' [no date], total 5pp., 8vo and 12mo.First, he begins: 'You know I've been put in charge of this. Probably you were responsible for the job being offered me - at least I don't know who was, if it wasn't you. | I hope you will be able to write for us.' Postscript reads: 'As for Bertrand Russell, I haven't read the book. But I warn you that it is difficult for me to be humourous at any time, and impossible in this case. B. R.

ALS, signed in her maiden name of Dorothy Brooke, on letterhead of 3 Arkwright Road, Hampstead; 8 April [1937], 2pp., 8vo. She expresses grief on the death of her first husband Sir John Reeve Brooke (1880-1937). '[...] of you in particular he often talked, when we had seen you, with admiration and joy - it was a particular pleasure to him when he had seen a person or heard them talk, to go over again what had been said, and your talk particularly charmed him. [...] | Don't forget me dear Robert, though I have no charming Reeve to bring you, love me a little for his sake'.

ALS, on letterhead of the City Art Gallery, Leeds; 10 March 1916. He offers to review 'Rebecca West's forthcoming little book on "Henry James"', being 'particularly interested in both author & subject'. Asks for contact details of a relative of Walter Riddall's: 'I lent him before his death one of my "To-Day" volumes which I can't replace & don't want to lose.'

344pp., 4to. 26 essays (one of them in two parts), comprising 332pp. in manuscript and 7pp. in typescript, with three full-page illustrations, and five printed pages at the start. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn and rebacked blue buckram binding, with an elaborate design in the style of Walter Crane in gilt on front board, depicting a Grecian maid plucking apples, incorporating the words 'The Portfolio Socy.', a Latin motto and the date 1894. This design is duplicated in print on the recto of the first leaf of the volume, with the date '189' completed with a '4' in pencil.

1p., landscape 16mo (8.5 x 13 cm). Good, on aged paper, with blank second leaf of bifolium bearing evidence of previous mounting. The poem is neatly written out, in a sensitive hand, and is eight lines long: 'Fairyland! Fairyland! | That must be a pleasant spot: | Silver rippled over the strand, | Murmurs in each cave & grot, | Jewelled fruits upon the trees, | Music floating on the air, | Perfumes breathing on the breeze -, | How I wish that I was there! | [signed] Julia S. H. Pardoe'.

1p., 12mo. On bifolium. Good, on aged paper. The note reads: 'Mr Landor has to acknowledge the honor of Lord Londesborough's invitation for May 21. The crowded state of London will not permit him to make his usual visit there in Spring, and among his regrets is his inability to pay his respects to Lord Londesborough.'

Address panel, c. 13 x 8cm, edges sl. ragged, mainlky good condition.The reverse is blank apart from remnants of glue for prior laying down, and the identification of John A. Murray as "Lord Advocate | M.P. Leith". The Bannatyne Club, founded by Sir Walter Scott, in 1823, disbanded 1861. David Laing "had an antiquarian turn, and was the first Secretary of the Bannantyne Club on its foundation on 27 February 1823. In 1826 he was elected a Fellow of The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He became Librarian of the Signet Library in 1837, gave up the bookshop and sold the stock.

1p., 4to. Addressed on reverse, with red wax seal, to 'C. W. Dilke Esq:'. Hayward writes that he is enclosing a note (not present), which was sent to him 'in one to me received only today though apparently written on Wednesday last. A d - d foreigner kept it in his pocket in the interim.' Clearly referring to a fee for an article, he continues: 'The lady will be quite satisfied with what you name, but I suppose it may stand over till she does something else'.

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, sl. staining ( remnants of laying down process on album leaf), good condition. He has sent a copy of his latest book to Gurney ("A Salad of Stray Leaves" (pub. 1882), with illustrations by his friend Phiz, Hablot K. Browne, who died in the year of publication). It's "to be published on Monday. | I find so little todo with the chisel that I am fain to employ my pen." The family is holidaying in Margate, and the air is having a beneficial effect on his son's health.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In original envelope, with stamp, three postmarks and red wax seal, addressed by Southesk to 'John J. Baron Esq. | 48 Griffin Street | Wilton | Blackburn | England.' Unaware that Baron is a barefaced autograph hunter, he expresses regret that, having no copies of his own works to hand, he is 'unable to accede to the very gratifying request of the lady referred to by you, as desirous to have two verses of my poems, in my own handwriting'.